


Laundry Day

by javajunkie



Category: Agents of SHIELD - Fandom
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-20
Updated: 2020-07-20
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:22:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25406089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/javajunkie/pseuds/javajunkie
Summary: Daisy and Daniel bond while performing the most mundane of tasks on Zephyr One.  Daisysous
Relationships: Skye | Daisy Johnson/Daniel Sousa
Comments: 8
Kudos: 147





	Laundry Day

Amongst the disasters and calamities the team on Zephyr One faced, there were the necessary lulls in between the action when everyday activities took place. There were meals. Aircraft maintenance. (Even a state-of-the-art aircraft like Zephyr One needed the occasional tune-up.) And then, with varying frequency depending on the team member, there was laundry. Daisy hated laundry, so she tended to stretch her wardrobe to its absolute limits before she was forced to give in.

On a slow Saturday, between the barn and time storm, Daisy dragged her basket down to the laundry room and filled the washing machine to almost the brink of disuse. She went back under the healing lamp while she waited for the washing machine to go through its cycles, and then after thirty minutes or so, went back into the laundry room. She was moving heaps of sopping wet clothes from the washer to the dryer when Daniel came in.

“Sorry, I’m almost finished,” she said, leaning over and grabbing another armful of clothes. She still was pretty weak, and it was work for her to right herself back up. Daniel noticed and said, “Do you need help with that?”

“No, I’m fine,” she said, pushing the clothes into the dryer. “I like the only person touching my underwear to be me.”

Daniel smiled slightly. “That seems reasonable.”

Finished with taking her clothes out of the washing machine, Daisy stepped away from it and said, “Alright, it’s all yours.”

Daniel went to put his clothes into the washer, but then stopped, pulling a grey t-shirt out of the bottom of the washer.

“You forgot something,” he said, but when he looked closer at the shirt it was clearly intended for a man, and he said, “Actually, never mind. Maybe someone else left it in there.”

Daisy stared at the shirt in his hand. _Lincoln’s_ shirt.

“No, that’s mine,” Daisy said quickly and pulled the shirt from his hand with some force. She held onto it for a beat before putting it in the dryer, swallowing hard as she brought down the lid and started the cycle. She only grabbed Lincoln’s shirt the day prior when she realized she was clean out of fresh clothes. It was one of the few mementos she kept after he died. 

Beside her, Daniel put his clothes into the washer in silence. She knew she had reacted strangely, and while she didn’t exactly owe him an explanation, she found that she wanted to give him one. 

“The shirt belonged to a friend of mine. He died a few years ago. And, anyway, he was a good guy. A _really_ good guy, so that’s why I get sort of protective of it. Which, I’m now realizing is probably pretty stupid.”

“It’s not stupid,” Daniel said. “I know what it’s like to lose someone close to you and how it can make the most normal, run of the mill things mean something. When I was at the SSR, I had a good friend die on the job. He always used to drink out of this one mug at the office, and after he died, I actually took it from the kitchen and hid it in one of my desk drawers. I just couldn’t see anyone else drinking out of it.”

Daisy considered his story and said, “I can see that. It also sort of sounds like you stole SSR property.”

Daniel laughed in surprise. “I don’t think I would put it that way.”

“But, thank you,” Daisy said, her voice softening. “For sharing that with me.”

Daisy hadn’t known Daniel Sousa long, but over the weeks, she learned that this sort of reaction was par the course for Daniel, and for not the first time, she felt herself soften. While not a new feeling, it was foreign all the same because for years, she had hardened herself. Against the pain. Against the world. Sometimes, even against her own teammates. And while she had grown and learned that she didn’t need to keep herself so guarded, there was still a part of her that always was kept hidden, and then she met Daniel Sousa. He seemed to open her up without trying, and for her part, she didn’t find herself wanting to close again. 

“I’m sorry about your friend,” Daniel said.

“Thanks. I’m sorry about yours, too.”

He shrugged, face impassive, and said, “Loss is part of the job, right?”

She hated that he was right. Three years ago, Lincoln sacrificed himself for her. Alone with Daniel in the laundry room, Daisy prayed that he would never do something similar, but knew, if the odds were stacked against them, that he would. Hell, they all would. But standing close to him with her heart keeping pace with each inhale and exhale beside her, Daisy didn’t want history to repeat itself. She was struck with a sudden urge to touch him. To find some purchase in the feeling of skin against skin, because in that moment, she felt like she was drowning. 

“Daisy?”

She didn’t answer, and he said, “Maybe you should lie down again. Come on, I’ll take you back to the healing lamp.”

His hand cupped her elbow and she leaned into his touch as she said, “No, I don’t need the healing lamp.“

“Are you sure? Because-”

She cut him off with her mouth against his and she stayed there, waiting to see what he would do next, when the dryer beeped loudly behind them. She pulled away, Daniel looking down at her with an unreadable expression.

“I think I forgot to press start,” she said.

And then he stepped around her, pressed start, and slid his arm around her waist to pull her body flush against him. He slanted his mouth over hers, the kiss gentle at first and then building as she urged him on, her fingers threaded in his hair. She didn’t want it to end, but then oxygen became necessary for both of them, and she reluctantly pulled away, her breath coming out in short spurts. 

“Okay, now I really think you need the healing lamp,” he murmured.

“You are just as out of breath as me,” Daisy pointed out with a slight grin, bracing her hands on his shoulders. He reached up and took a hold of one of her hands, pressing it to his chest between them. It was a simple gesture that somehow felt more intimate than what they had been doing before. In a way, she liked it better.

“You know, when you guys came and got me in 1955, I never thought…Anyway, I’m just really glad I ended up here.”

She squeezed his hand, her thumb skimming along his knuckles. "I am, too.”

“Now, will you please go rest now?”

“We have this room to ourselves and you seriously want me to rest?”

“Yes, I do. Come on, I’ll keep you company.”

He was already walking out of the room, and as Daisy followed him and he looked back, extending his hand, she knew without question that she had started them on the path of something that could only go one of two ways. She just hoped she was prepared for either.


End file.
